


When All the Baggage Just Ain't as Heavy

by ellatrobbie



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, F/M, Gen, M/M, Not Beta Read, Uni friends AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-06
Updated: 2013-01-07
Packaged: 2017-11-13 16:17:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/505390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellatrobbie/pseuds/ellatrobbie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn's totally fine with flying, he just doesn't like it much. Niall's fine, he's just trying really hard not to cry. It's the last week of summer and they're on their way to Spain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Zayn leaned his head back, closing his eyes. His hand was clamped tightly around his iPod wishing they could just be up in the air already so he could turn it on. He hated this part. It wasn’t that he was scared of flying; he just hadn’t done it much. He didn’t even have a passport till he started university. And really, he didn’t think it was that weird that he’d rather be on the ground than “flying” in some metal box in the air. Common sense, really. 

At least the seat next to him was empty. He hated having to share his space with a stranger, they were always selfish with elbow rest and it always got awkward if he started breathing a bit quicker when they hit turbulence. One time a lady made him hold that stupid sick bag in front of his face for the whole flight. People never really get it, and it makes the whole freaking out thing worse. Not that he freaks out but whatever. He listened, eyes still closed, to the other passengers taking their seats and he hoped that no one would sit next to him. Someone, a flight attendant he guessed, was closing an overheard compartment nearby. 

“Uh, sorry,” a voice broke the soft buzz of sounds, making Zayn scowl a little, eyes still closed. The guy, whoever he was, was close enough for Zayn to hear him clearly, an Irish accent curling off the guy’s tongue. “D’ya have any spare seats?” He asked. Zayn squeezed his eyes tight and prayed that there was another free seat on the plane. 

“Is anything wrong, Sir?” The flight attendant asked, and Zayn could practically hear the polite smile tight on her lips. 

The guy cleared his throat, “I just have to, uh, move. I can’t sit in my seat anymore.” His voice actually cracked a little and Zayn opened his eyes, suddenly curious to see the guy that was speaking. He let his eyes wonder over a few other passengers as well, so that it wasn’t obvious but eventually his gaze landed on the guy standing in the aisle. His hair was blonde, peeking out from under a snapback; he was dressed in a plain white T-shirt, with a backpack slung carelessly on one shoulder. He looked like he was way over the verge of upset, but trying hard to hide it. His hand, the one not holding onto his bag strap was clenched into a fist by his side. 

The flight attendant looked over his shoulder up the plane to where the guy had probably come from. “I’m truly sorry Sir, all of business class is full today. Is there something wrong with your seat?”

Zayn stared for longer than he should have; the guy just didn’t look like someone who would be flying in business class, is all. Zayn really didn’t get business class anyway. Having a few more inches leg room wasn’t going to make the experience of flying any better. 

But the blonde just shook his head violently, “Don’t care. Please!” He looked desperate and Zayn frowned to himself: something was definitely wrong. 

The flight attendant hummed for a moment, “Let me check the seating list, just a moment.” As she turned around to go to the back of the plane, she eyed the seat next to Zayn and he swallowed a groan. The blonde guy stayed stood awkwardly in the aisle, biting his lip and obviously trying not to make eye contact with anyone. 

Sure enough, a minute later the attendant returned to Zayn’s seat and smiled apologetically. “Sir... sorry, we have a passenger that needs to move, would you mind if he sits next to you?” She asked as though Zayn hadn’t been two feet away from the whole exchange. 

Zayn was tempted to say he needed the seat – he’d done that once, told an attendant that flying made him a bit sick and that space helped him feel better and she’d managed to keep the seat next to him free. It’s not like he actually gets sick, but whatever. But he glanced over at the blonde once more; his cheeks were red for whatever reason and Zayn found he really couldn’t say no. 

So he nodded and in no time the blonde boy was sat next to him, having shoved his bag under the seat. The attendant smiled, satisfied she had done her job and moved on down the plane. The Blonde - as Zayn had taken to calling him, though it wasn’t like he was really paying attention or anything- couldn’t stop shaking his leg, his hands gripping the seat rest so tight his knuckles were white. The whole thing looked kind of familiar and Zayn guessed that maybe he wasn’t great with flying either. Maybe his other seat was like on emergency exit or something and he freaked out. Zayn hated the idea of the emergency exit row, and was grateful that he’d never gotten it. 

“It’s alright mate, I’m not a great flyer either.” Zayn has no idea what made him say it. He’s not one to talk to strangers and he’s definitely not one to do it on a plane and he’s really definitely not one to admit he’s not great at flying. 

At first it was as if the guy hadn’t even heard him. But after a few moments he finally turned his head to Zayn, his eyes wide but not out of fear. It looked like he was trying to stop himself from crying or something. 

“Huh,” he started, before shaking his head, “Oh no, it’s not... it’s... I think I just broke up with my boyfriend.”

Zayn’s eyes widened at the guy’s confession. “Oh, sorry.”

It was a bit surprising actually: he wouldn’t have picked the guy to have a boyfriend, or fly in business class. But then heaps of people were like that. Loads of people were surprised he himself was gay, except for the time he got that blonde highlight in his hair and his mate Louis joked that it was “a dead giveaway”. Louis himself confused loads of people that didn’t know him, jokingly groping all of his male friends before going to make out with his girlfriend. So, Zayn’s probably the last person to make assumptions about people he doesn’t know. 

The blonde guy nodded slightly, then shrugged, then his eyes widened again and he bit his lip like he just remembered what had happened and he was about to freak out again. Zayn wasn’t sure what to do, but guessed that talking would be a good distraction. Sometimes, being stuck in your own head was the worst. 

“What happened?” He asked, then wanted to kick himself. Good job, Malik, ask the heartbroken guy about his broken heart. “Sorry, it’s none of my-”

But the guy interrupted him, seeming almost relieved to be asked. “His, uh, this guy he works with called to wish him a good flight. But, like, he was trying to shove his bag up there,” he gestured to the compartments above, “so I answered his phone and the guy didn’t realise it was me so he said-” The guy paused to take a deep breath and then continued in a surprisingly convincing Essex accent “He said ‘Hey baby, I’m still sad that you’re taking Niall on holiday and not me. How are you gonna make it up to me?’”

Zayn stared at him, “Shit.”

“So I sorta dropped the phone, swore at him, grabbed my bag and yeah,” the guy said, balling his hand into a fist again. 

Zayn stayed quiet for a moment, not sure what to say. He knew what it was like, and it sucked. He opened his mouth, hoping the right words would come out. He tried to remember what his mates had said when they had comforted him a while ago. Just as he was finally about to say something, the PA system in the plane, dinged and the attendants was asking them to fasten their seatbelts for take-off. 

“So, your name’s Niall, yeah?” Zayn finally asked once the plane was up in the air. He’d tried to convey with wide eyes that he wasn’t great at talking when a huge metal box they were sitting in was leaving the ground and the guy – Niall – had seemed to understand. Zayn’s hand was still wrapped tightly around his ipod and if this was any other time, the headphones would’ve been in his ears by now, volume up as loud as it could go. 

“S’what they call me,” he shrugs, a half-smile on his face. Zayn knows straight away that this guy doesn’t put on any feelings. He doesn’t pretend to feel good when he’s feeling shit and for some reason that urges Zayn to grin wide enough for both of them when he reaches out his hand. 

“I’m Zayn.”

“Sick name. Been to Marbella before?”

Zayn nodded, “My mates and I rent out this house in the last week before uni starts every year. But I couldn’t get last night off work so they went a day before.”

Niall smiled, wider this time, “That sounds sick! Brilliant idea, that!”

Zayn grinned, because it really was great. This last week of summer had been his favourite part of summer vacation for the past 3 years. He glanced at Niall, whose cheeks were still a little red, but his eyes looked less like they were going to start tearing up soon. Yeah, talking was definitely the right thing to do. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Fuck,” Niall muttered as he sat back in his seat. He’d gone to bathroom after more than an hour of talking, and Zayn was still surprised at how easy it was to talk to the guy. They had, like, nothing in common. But the guy’s eyes lit up when he was telling a story, and his laugh was pretty great and hey, he needed a break. Besides, it was a nice change to not rely on the comfort of his ipod for the whole flight. 

“What?” Zayn asked, looking concerned. 

Niall ran his fingers through his hair, though Zayn can’t remember when he pulled off his snapback. His blonde hair is darker at the roots, suspiciously so and it kinda stayed standing in all directions after Niall pulled his hand away. Zayn couldn’t help thinking maybe he’d like to give it a go before he brought his focus back to what Niall was actually saying. 

“I just remembered, all the hotel bookings are in Aidan’s name. All I have is my own ticket, the rest was his treat,” He spat out the word like its poison, “I’m on a plane to fucking Spain and I have nowhere to stay. And nothing to do for a week.”

Zayn guessed Aidan was the name of the guy that was sitting a dozen rows in front of them behind the curtain, and he was going to suggest that maybe Niall talk to the guy when they get off the plane. Like, maybe the whole thing was a misunderstanding or something. And, like, maybe leaving someone sitting in a plane isn't the best way to break up.

But instead, when Zayn opens his mouth the words that come out are: “Come stay with us.”


	2. Chapter 2

Zayn doesn’t think there’s anything weird about this for a while. Not when he and Niall spend the next three hours on the plane talking like they’ve been mates for ages. Not when Niall pats his shoulder as the plane is landing and Zayn tries to focus on his breathing. Not when they wait to be the last people to leave the plane, so that Niall doesn’t have to run into his (ex) boyfriend. Not when the attendant hands Niall a guitar shaped case that had been stored elsewhere. (Zayns asks, somewhat stupidly, whether he plays and Niall grins and wiggles his eyebrows a couple of time and Zayn decides that smiles look good on him. Really good.) Not when they’re picking up their bags at the baggage claim and Niall’s suitcase has several stickers of the Irish flag on it. Not when Niall’s phone rings when they’re just out of the airport and Zayn can tell it’s the ex by the look on Niall’s face when he hits the ignore button. 

But now they’re on the bus on the way to the house and Niall’s been staring out the window almost the whole time, except for when he turns to point something cool or funny out to Zayn. And Zayn’s been, well, staring at Niall most of the time. Because they just met on a plane and how the fuck did Zayn just invite him to spend the week with his friends. What was wrong with him?!

He must’ve zoned out, because he doesn’t notice that Niall’s turned around once more and is staring back at him. 

He looked at bit nervous,“Hey, like, I totally ‘preciate you inviting me and all. I can totally find a hotel or something when we get there and -”

“It’s cool, really. There’s tonnes of space.” Zayn reassured him and found he was also reassuring himself. 

Niall looked at him for a bit longer, almost studying his face and Zayn felt like all his secrets were written all over his face. But Niall just nodded, grinning, “Alright, let’s see what’s on that ipod of yours then.” He gestured over to Zayn’s pocket. 

_________________________________________________________________

Zayn had texted the boys that he was on his way, and had, for whatever reason, left out the part about bringing a blonde Irish stray with him (okay, so the reason was obvious. Zayn himself had barely any clue why he was doing this, let alone trying to explain it over text). So when he rang the doorbell, he heard Harry’s voice boom through the door almost immediately. 

“MALIK’S HERE!!!” He swung the door open and grinned enthusiastically, jumping and hugging Zayn like they hadn’t just seen each other two days ago. “You better have bought the party with you because the couples have been sooo bor- Oh.” Harry finally paused when he saw Niall standing awkwardly next to Zayn. But quickly he offered Niall a smile, “Hi. Zayn, mate, you didn’t say you were bringing anyone. 

Zayn shrugged, “I, uh, wasn’t. Harry, this is Niall. I met him on the plane and invited him because his, uh, plans, got kinda screwed up.”

Harry looked at him for a moment, and although Zayn was never good with this wordless communication thing (definitely not as good as Harry and Louis were at it) Harry managed to get the I’ll-explain-later-just-go-with-it message Zayn was giving. So Harry turned back to Niall and embraced him in a hug, which makes Niall’s eyes go so wide it almost makes Zayn laugh, “Hey man, nice to meet you!” 

When Harry pulled away he grabbed Zayn’s hand, the one that wasn’t holding on to his bag, and pulled him inside the house. Zayn looked over his shoulder to make sure Niall was following. The blonde boy just grinned and stepped inside the house after them. 

“Just dump your bag here and you can meet the others,” Zayn said, dropping his own bag in the hallway. Harry had already run ahead to the others, who were, Zayn guessed, out in the garden taking in the late afternoon sun. 

Niall grunted in response, and dropped his bag and his backpack down by Zayn’s, following him down the hall towards the backdoor. 

Outside, Zayn found his friends doing what they usually did, which was not much. Liam and Danielle were lying down on the grass, Danielle’s head (and hair) propped up on Liam’s stomach. Louis and Eleanor were sitting on two of the deck chairs, sharing a bottle of beer between them. Harry had run and collapsed onto the grass near Liam and Danielle, his shoes and socks already off beside him and Zayn wondered how long it would before he got rid of his shirt as well. 

Zayn looked back at Niall, realising he still had no idea who these people were. “Uh, That’s Liam, Danielle is the girl with the hair -” He started, pointing at the couple. 

“I heard that Zayn!” Danielle said loudly, playful smile on her face. Then she raised her head and lifted her sunglasses to see who exactly Zayn was introducing her to. 

“Then Eleanor, that’s Louis, and you already, uh, met Harry.” Zayn finished off. And slowly but surely all of his friends turned to see the mystery guest. 

“Guys, meet Niall.”

Niall offered them all a nod and a little wave. He still looked kind of nervous and it was kind of adorable. “Hey lads. And, uh, ladies.”

“Oh My God, he’s Irish!” Louis exclaimed like it was the best thing he’d discovered all year. 

“Am I?” Niall laughed.

“Hey mate, help yourself to a beer,” Liam smiled, sitting up on the grass now. He pointed to the small cooler bin by the back door before giving Zayn a pointed look. Yeah, they would definitely be having a conversation about this later. 

Niall shrugged, and picked up two beers out of the cooler, opening them with the bottle opener that sat beside it and handing one to Zayn.   
There was a surprisingly comfortable silence as they made their way to the others, Niall dropping onto the grass and Zayn taking the other free deck chair. 

Louis leaned over to clink his bottle against Zayn’s, “Glad you could finally make it, Zayney, you and your... guest,” he finished with a wink and Zayn glared at him. But Niall was too busy laughing at something Harry had said to hear. 

________________________________________________________________________

A couple of hours later, when the sun was halfway done setting, Zayn found himself helping Liam get the meat from the kitchen so they could start the barbeque for dinner. It wasn’t necessarily a two-person job, but Liam had gotten up, dusted his shorts off and looked at Zayn so pointedly when asking for a hand that Zayn knew there was no way he could get out of it. It wasn’t just the conversation he knew Liam was going to start, but he’d gotten so comfortable outside, messing around with his friends. And Niall. Niall who had become part of the group in less than ten minutes. Niall who laughed at anything that was even barely funny, cheeks turning red again but this time there was a twinkle in his eye, and he kept thanking people for letting them stay. 

But Zayn dragged himself up, and followed Liam into the kitchen. 

“Jesus, how much food did you guys get?!” Zayn muttered when Liam pulled a giant stack of steaks out of the fridge. 

“Well, good thing we did since we didn’t know you’d be bringing an extra,” Liam replied, handing Zayn the steaks and going around the kitchen grabbing everything else they’d need. It would’ve been snarky coming from anyone else, but when Zayn looked up Liam was just looking at him, eyes soft and concerned.

“Who is he, Zayn?” He said, voice nearly a whisper. He glanced in the direction of the garden, and Zayn nearly laughed, realising Liam didn’t want to offend this “stranger”.

Zayn shrugged, “Don’t say anything but... He broke up with his boyfriend on the plane. Like right before we were taking off so he switched seats and ended up sitting next to me. And I dunno, he was upset and we ended up talking and he had nowhere to go because his boyfriend booked the hotels and yeah.”

Liam frowned, “Wait, what happened to his boyfriend?”

“I dunno, we just kinda left the plane. I think he tried calling, but Niall didn’t answer,” Zayn shrugged again, because really, what else could he do. 

“Well, did he tell you what happened?”

“The guy, boyfriend, had been cheating with some other guy,” Zayn muttered. 

Liam’s eyes widened, breathing out a sigh before shaking his head, “Zayn -”

But Zayn shook his head before he could say anything else. “That’s not- Look, I’m fine. I just... he’s a nice guy, yeah. Thought he could use some friends. I know I did. ”

Liam was still looking at him weirdly. Half like he thought Zayn would shatter into a million pieces any second and partly like a father who wanted to tell his son off. “He is nice. Just... I mean, you just met him, yeah?”

Zayn stared at him, wondering whether he was really being that obvious when he was wishing he could run his fingers through Niall’s hair earlier. Just because the sunlight had made it look so golden and Niall himself did it every so often and it always ended up sticking every which way. “S’not like that, Liam.”

Liam stared back for a moment, before shrugging. Or rather, attempting to shrug with his arms full, “Alright. Let’s go feed our friends.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

Turns out they had gotten the right amount of food because Niall could eat. Zayn always thought Liam could put away more than enough food, but Niall had finished enough food for about three people. Zayn caught himself staring a couple times throughout the evening, wondering where the hell he even put all that food because he was so skinny. 

Speaking of, where was Niall? They’d directed him to bathroom a while ago, but surely he should be back by now. Telling himself he had to go for a piss as well, Zayn drained the last of his beer and chuck the empty bottle into their “recycling bucket” before pulling himself up off the grass and making his way back into the house. 

Walking slowly and quietly (why the fuck was he sneaking around? He was being ridiculous), he made his way down the hall, stopping suddenly when he heard a hushed voice. Peering round the corner into the living room, he saw Niall on the couch, leaning his head back and looking at the ceiling. 

“Nah, I’m okay, Seanie,” Niall said, phone to his ear, “Yeah really. They’re really nice. Gave me food and everything... Yeah it was a little weird, but I couldn’t really say no. Didn’t really want to either... Not like _that_ you shite! Yeah, I know. I’ll be... fine. K, I’ll let you know. Bye mate.”

When Niall had finished, Zayn moved to walk past the room, feeling like a fucking spy as he pretended he hadn’t known Niall was in there.   
“You okay?” he asked. He’d forgotten, what with dinner and the beers and Niall getting along with everyone like they’d been mates forever, about Niall’s shitfuck of a day.

“Sorry, just... best friend from back home,” Niall said, gesturing to his phone as he stood up from the couch. 

“Course. Good that you’re, uh, letting him know,” Zayn nodded, not sure what to add so he just pointed in the direction of the bathroom and nodded again before turning around and hoping cold water would wash the redness off his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Half of this chapter wasn't supposed to be written, but apparently this thing is now writing itself so we'll see how that goes :) Thanks so much for the feedback guys!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry. Both for the horrendous wait on this update. Horrible exam period couple with horrible writers block made me want to shove this out of my mind for a little while. 
> 
> Also sorry that this chapter is nowhere near as good as I wanted, but I've been working at it for a while and I feel like it's best to get on with the story. I don't want to call it a filler chapter, but it's definitely a bridge to what will happen in the next few chapters.

“Niall! What does this say?!” Louis asked excitedly shoving a green can in front of his face.

“Uh... peas,” he said, not mentioning the fact that the entire can was covered with a picture of peas.

“Brilliant. This is brilliant. Our fourth time in Spain and we finally have someone who speaks Spanish!” Louis grinned, chucking the can of peas into the trolley that Liam was pushing.

Niall had woken up that morning to find that Zayn apparently didn't get up before noon (or so Louis said). The girls were already at the beach getting some beach time before it got too hot or crowded and Louis and Liam (mostly Louis) pestered him into coming to the supermarket with him, since he admitted he spoke Spanish last night. Harry was nowhere to be found, but no one seemed too worried. So Niall tagged along and was currently translating every food product Louis could get his hands on. Even though he didn't know why they needed more food, Niall had noticed the kitchen was pretty well stocked that morning, although he wasn't going to complain.

“So Niall,” Louis said, his voice suddenly more serious, “What exactly are you doing here?”

Liam yelped before Niall could even react, “Louis! You can’t just -”

“Nah, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” Niall smiled, waving his hand. He turned back to Louis, “I, uh, my plans got screwed up and I ended up sitting next to Zayn on the plane. And we hung out, I don’t know. Then he was a mate and invited me here. Sorry if -”

He was about to apologise for intruding, because he was pretty sure that why things were awkward right now. But Louis interrupted him, smirking, “So you just hung out, huh? On the plane?”

“Oh My God,” Liam muttered, running and hand over his face.

Niall glanced at them both, a little confused, “Yeah. Chatted and stuff. Why?”

“We’re glad you’re here, Niall,” Liam said quickly, almost like he wanted to fit it in before Louis opened his mouth again.

“Of course we are,” Louis said, grabbing another can of something without looking and putting it into the trolley, “It just usually takes Zayn a lot longer to introduce us to his... friends. Is all.”

“Whaddya mean?”

“It took about, how long Liam? It took about 4 months before Zayn let us even meet his last boyfriend,” Louis shrugged and Liam genuinely looked scandalised by the whole conversation.

Niall shook his head, still confused but then he froze. “Wait, boyfriend?! Like a guy?”

Louis looked at him like it was obvious, but it was Liam that spoke up this time, probably only to try and save the whole situation from disaster. “Uh, well, I don’t know if he likes to label it or whatever, but he definitely, uh, likes guys as well as, you know, girls and stuff.”

“And stuff?” Louis added, raising an eyebrow. But then turned back to Niall, “You mean you didn't know?”

“I just met him yesterday!” Niall said, but at the same moment thought that he’d pretty much come out to Zayn in the first sentence he spoke to him. But really, it was none of his business if Zayn didn’t want to say anything.

Louis let out a little whistle, “I sort of just assumed you guys hooked up or something.”

“What? We just talked, about like uni and stuff. It wasn’t a very long flight,” Niall rambled a little, face reddening for some reason he didn’t even understand.

“Louis assumes a lot of things, Niall. Don’t worry about it,” Liam said, patting him on the shoulder and pushing the trolley along.

They walked in silence for a few metres when Niall spoke up again. “Does Zayn do that a lot? Hook up with, uh, strangers?”

“Not really. He’s more of a relationship kind of guy.

If you want a hook up, you should find Harry, he’ll kiss anything with face!” Louis grinned.

“Louis!” Liam yelped again, while Niall just looked down at the ground, his inexplicable blush growing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they got back Zayn was awake, but barely; lounging on the couch eating cereal in only his boxers. He had way more tattoos than Niall had initially thought, his eyes gazing over Zayn’s abs and chest before quickly forcing it back to his face. Or better yet, someone else’s face.

“Was wondering where you guys got to,” Zayn mumbled, swallowing a mouthful of cereal. Then he glanced at Niall and his eyes narrowed, “You didn’t torture Niall, did you?”

“Nah, we just went to the store. Yeah,” Niall said, shrugging a little too hastily.

“I think we bought enough food for a month,” Liam grumbled, dropping the heavy bag on the floor. He glanced down and picked up a giant jar from the bag. “Louis, how are we going to get through this much peanut butter?!”

Louis was no doubt about to defend himself, when Harry finally returned from whatever adventure he’d been on. He looked like he’d been running, or was just really really excited. “Guess what?” He grinned around the room before continuing, “I got us in to the Golf Club.”

Louis rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, “Harry, none of us play golf but you.”

“Oh come on!” Harry pouted, and suddenly looked about five years younger. “You know how much work it took to get us in without membership?!”

Liam nodded, but it was Zayn that spoke up, smirking, “None, all you had to do what bat your eyelashes at the receptionist guy and he’d give you his first born.” Liam and Louis sniggered at this and Niall got the feeling Harry had a bit of history with this golf-receptionist-person.

Harry whined again, and Niall was seriously beginning to doubt his age. “Come on, guys, it’s the perfect day!”

“Uh, I love golf,” Niall piped up finally. All four guys turned to look at him, only one of them grinning like a maniac. Well, he did. He hadn’t played in years, probably not since he moved to England for uni, but he used play with his dad and brother all the time back home.

“Perfect! Me and you, mate!” Harry said, looking like Niall had just made his year, and ran over to give him a tight hug.

“Zayn you coming?” Harry asked, when he finally pulled away.

Zayn stared at Niall for moment, before glancing at the rest of the boys. Finally he put his bowl down on the table. “I- sure. Let me just get changed real quick.” He jumped up and was out of the room within a second.

Louis let out a low whistle and Liam elbowed him in the ribs. “Owww!”

“What?” Niall asked, looking around. The other three boys were definitely having some sort of semi-silent conversation right in front of him.

Liam shook his head, “Just that, the first time Harry dragged us golfing, Zayn said it was the most boring thing in the world, and swore he’d never do it again. Ever. And that was like 3 years ago.”

“Guess he found something to make it more interesting, huh?” Louis added, raising his eyebrow and Niall suddenly found the ground very interesting all over again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zayn really did hate golf. And he was kind of terrible at it. To his credit he had tried, both to look like he wasn’t terrible at it and like he wouldn’t rather be anywhere else in the world. But the look of relief on his face at the last whole, when they were finally done (with Niall winning, although he did suspect Harry had gone a little easy on him), was so obvious Niall almost wanted to laugh.

Harry ran off when they got closer to the main building, supposed to “thank” that receptionist that let them onto the green for free. Niall glanced at Zayn and raised his eyebrows, and Zayn just shrugged, shaking his head, tell-tale smile on his lips.

Niall felt a familiar buzzing in his pocket. His phone, thankfully on silent; because he still hadn’t changed his ringtone to something less sickeningly romantic. Ignoring it, he turned back to Zayn, “Thanks for coming today, mate. You didn’t have to. I know it’s not really your thing.”

Zayn shrugged, “I don’t mind that much,” he said, looking at him pointedly, “How are you doing anyway?”His eyes were suddenly warmer, worried.

Niall bit his lip, realising he wasn’t entirely sure how he was doing. He’d managed to distract himself for most of the day, “Alright, y'know. Just need some time I guess. Distractions are good though,” he added, grinning and gesturing vaguely to the scenery. “And good company.”

Zayn smiled at that, nodding slightly like he was taking his answer into consideration. His eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks, looking stupidly pretty, and Niall couldn't help but continue.

“So, uh, the boys kind of mentioned something you hadn’t. This morning, I mean,” he started and regretted it as soon as he said it, but Zayn was looking at him now, eyes wide.

“What’d they say?” He asked, voice stiff.

“That you, you know, liked guys,” Niall replied, staring at the ground. “As well,” he added, because Liam’s voice was resounding loudly in his head.

“Oh,” Zayn said, and was quiet for a bit. “Yeah, didn’t think it mattered to be honest. S’not a big deal.”

“Just interesting is all,” Niall muttered, more because he doesn’t know where to take this than anything else. Well, that and ever since Louis had suggested him and Zayn hooking up he’d not been able to get the idea out of his head. He’d just met the guy; he’d _just_ broken up with Aiden.

When Zayn didn’t say anything, Niall turned his head back and realised Zayn was staring at him, brows furrowed together. Niall shrugged, staring back at him pointedly, hoping to prove that it really wasn’t a big deal. But his eye slipped down to Zayn’s lips, pursed together at first, and he watched as they slowly stretched into a small smile.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The editing on this is so superficial, it's ridiculous. I apologise, but I kind of just wanted to get another chapter out. It's gotten weirdly tough to write this part of the story, so much that in the time I was putting off doing it I managed to start like five other stories, so look out for some of those. 
> 
> Also, in this chapter Niall mentions a place called Herts (Hertforshire). There'll be more on it later, but I wanted to pop it in here as well. It's a real place and and it's uni offered the course I feel Niall could've taken so that's pretty much why :)
> 
> Hope you enjoy and fingers crossed the next chapter comes much more easily!

The music was loud, which was to be expected. Zayn wasn't really a fan of clubs like this. He didn't dance, so there was nothing for him to do but stand awkwardly by the bar nursing a drink and not being able to talk to anyone. They were there though, because they collectively decided that they should do something else with their holiday than just sit around their garden enjoying the warm evenings. 

So here they were. Zayn really didn’t get how Liam survived these places without drinking, but he seemed to love them. Surprisingly, he probably went out more than any of them. Well, he wasn't exactly sure about Niall, but the way he spoke about chilling at home with a beer and a guitar, Zayn guessed that he liked staying in as much as he did. 

He feels a hand on his shoulder, turning around he sees Danielle smiling at him, Liam standing behind her. Danielle leans in so her lips were close to his ear, “Honey, Niall’s looking for you.”

Pulling back, Zayn looks at her questioningly, “What?”

“He just asked where you were,” She shouts, now that she's further away and shrugs, “He was out on the dance floor with us.”

“He’s definitely got some moves!” Liam adds, shouting over Danielle’s shoulder and laughing.

Zayn looks over to the dance floor, which is pretty much the entire club, except for a metre wide space around the bar. 

When he looks back at Liam and Danielle, Liam is leaning over the counter trying to talk to the bartender, but Zayn catches Danielle’s eye. He hopes his look says something like “Let’s hope I don’t get trampled to death,” but she just winks at him so he doesn’t think she got it.

He drains the last of his beer and puts the bottle back on the bar hastily before turning to step into the sea of dancers. He’s almost sure it will be impossible to find Niall amongst all these people, but his eye catches a flash of dirty blonde pretty quickly. He moves towards it, dodging a couple making out in front of him, and swallowing a curse when a sharp high heel steps on his shoe. 

Niall sees him and waves, grinning at him. His face is a bit shiny, and his quiffed hair a bit droopy but he still looks better in a plain white T-shirt than any person really should. 

“Hey, you good?” Zayn shouts over the music when he gets closer. He’s pretty sure Niall doesn’t hear a word of it, but he must’ve gotten the message because he nods vehemently, grinning even wider. Niall’s hips are moving a little like he can’t help dancing to the music and Zayn watches him for a second, trying to simply look amused but he’s not sure he’s pulling it off. Niall laughs at something, maybe it’s Zayn, and the sound trickles through the loud bass and pulls Zayn’s eyes up back to his face. But his laugh stops suddenly when he looks over Zayn’s shoulder.

“Fuck,” he mutters, Zayn making out the movement of his lips. 

“What?” Zayn asks, words swallowed by the music. He turns around hoping to see what Niall’s looking at but it’s just a thick crowd of people. He turns back to Niall, now frowning, and looks at him questioningly. Niall leans in to his ear, so Zayn can feel the hot breath on the side of his face.

“Aidan’s here,” he says simply before moving away.

Zayn grabs his shoulder though, pulls him back, “This place is packed, he won’t see you. Don’t worry!” He pats his shoulder for added reassurance. Niall smiles at him hopefully, but turns to eye the exit of the club anyway. 

They’re there for a few more minutes, Zayn shuffling awkwardly to the music, before Niall freezes once again. “He’s coming over here. Fuck!” 

Zayn looks over his shoulder, aiming for subtlety but who really cares, and see and tall guy with a light brown hair pushing his way through the crowed. He could be a model probably, Zayn muses before turning back to see if Niall is okay. He’s not, the colour looks like it was drained from his face, and his eyes are wide, looking helpless. 

He probably should let them talk, sort it out. But the look on Niall’s face is too much, Zayn is conflicted between hugging the boy or turning around and punching model-guy Aiden in the nose. Instead he just grabs Niall’s wrist and pulls him quickly, pushing through the crowd towards the exit door. 

He doesn’t even look back until he’s breathing in fresh air and only then does he let go of the tight grip on Niall’s arm. Niall’s staring at him but his eyes are warm, thankful, and Zayn thinks he did the right thing. 

“What do you wanna do?” He asks finally.

Niall shrugs, “You hungry?”

Zayn laughs, “Yeah, let’s go find something.”

They end up finding some random food truck that is obviously only there for tourists, and grab some chips and a couple of burgers before making their way down to the beach. The night air is warm, the light breeze welcome. Besides, they both have enough drinks in them to make up for the lack of jackets. 

...

Niall’s telling him about his degree, music technology, when a Bon Jovi tune breaks the quiet air. Niall pulls his phone out of his pocket and groans. 

“What?” Zayn asks, taking another bite of his burger. Niall’s already demolished his, and had actually moved on to stealing Zayn’s chips between words. 

“He’s calling. _Again_.”

“Again?” Zayn asks, after swallowing. The ‘he’ is pretty self-explanatory at this point. 

Nialls nods, frowning, “He’s called like twenty times since out plane landed. I turned my phone off past couple of days to ignore it. Thought he’d stop by now. But I guess he’s trying again after he saw us.”

“S’stopped now,” Zayn says, because he needs to say something and the only other option is the ever rational “You’ll have to talk to him one day.” But Liam’s not here and not everything needs to be said. 

“Wait for it. He calls twice everytime,” Niall replies and holds his phone out between them. Sure enough, less than half a minute later the phone rings again. 

“Give me that,” Zayn says quickly, a random wave of aggression washing over him as he grabs the phone quickly.

“Zayn! What are y-”

“Hello?” Zayn answers, realising he has no idea what he’s planning to say. 

“Niall, finally,” Aidan said, “Look, please listen -”

“Sorry, mate, wrong number,” Zayn said quickly, interrupting him. 

There’s a pause, “What? Who is this? Is Niall there?”

Zayn takes a breath and sees Niall is staring at him, “Niall doesn’t answer his phone to talk to dickheads, so no, Niall’s _not_ here. Because he’s a decent person he’s probably going to talk to you again at some point, but you could at least have the respect of letting him enjoy the little part of his holiday you didn’t fuck up,” Zayn pauses and there’s a sound like Aidan is about to say something so he continues quickly, “You can take your bullshit apology and excuses and shove them up the arse of that other guy, that shouldn’t be too hard for you.” He hangs up and only then does he actually realise what he said. He offers the phone back to Niall with a sheepish smile. 

“Sorry.”

Niall shakes his head, but looks pleased, “That was... thanks mate. I needed that.”

Zayn smiles a little wider and rubs a hand gently no Niall’s back. They sit in quiet for a bit, the breaking of the waves creating a steady rhythm. Niall steals another chip and turns to him. 

“So how in the hell did you and those guys become best mates. It’s like you were thrown together or something?” He asks, mouth still full. 

Zayn laughs, because it’s pretty much true. 

“It’s a long story,” he warns and Niall just shrugs.

“You’ve got plenty of chips left.”

So Zayn starts from the beginning and tells Niall how he met Liam in his first year theory of music class, which was an elective for both of them. And the how he met Louis later that year, in a English lit class, that Louis was in first year at the same time because he spent a year after college working and travelling. Niall choked on chip when Zayn told him Louis was pretty shy when they first met and Zayn just grinned. And how it turned out Liam and Louis had met before as well, somehow and so they just all started hanging out. How, the following year, Louis met Harry in the bathrooms at uni, of all places. Harry always said it’s because he was singing a song by The Script and Louis told him he could be a star some day. Louis insists he said “Could you pass the soap? Thanks mate,” but there’s always a little twinkle in his eye. 

“And yeah, so Harry kinda joined us and we’ve been solid for the past couple of years. They’re good mates. I didn't really know anyone when I moved from Bradford so it’s nice.”

Nialls nods, “Yeah, was tough going to Herts from Mullingar.”

“S’fine when you meet the right people though,” Zayn muses and catches Niall’s eye. Niall smiles back at him before turning back to face the water.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the sloth-like behaviour in my updating. Have had a bad case of business and writer's block. Also sorry that the ending on this is so abrupt, I had a different ending to this chapter initially but decided it would fit better in the next chapter soo...
> 
> But on the plus side, this is the longest chapter so far?
> 
> Also this has been edited approximately 0% (I'll try and come back and do it later). Also it's nearly 5am, so I don't think editing now would do much good anyway. 
> 
> I'm gonna try my hardest to finish this thing before new years. Fingers crossed for me. 
> 
> I hope you like it :)

By some miracle Zayn wakes up before 10 the next morning. Considering what time he and Niall got in, and that none of the other guys were back by then, he’s pretty sure he’s the only one awake. He tosses and turns in bed for about ten minutes before he realises he won’t get back to sleep. Besides, it’s their last day in Marbella, he probably should make the most of it. 

First order of business: breakfast. He pulls a t-shirt over his head and heads out of his room, not fussed about only wearing his boxers. It’s not till he gets closer to the kitchen that he hears some giggles. But he doesn’t know who it is until he turns the corner and sees Louis and Eleanor cuddling by the kitchen counter. Her arms are wrapped around his neck and he’s holding her so tightly Zayn’s pretty sure her feet aren’t touching the ground. 

“Uh, sorry,” he mutters. He doesn’t mind his friends being in relationships. Eleanor and Danielle are maybe the nicest girls he’s met. But he does try to avoid being too close when they get all lovey-dovey. He’ll just get some food and take it back to his room. 

Eleanor and Louis pull apart with smiles on their faces. Eleanor’s is a bit more apologetic, while Louis shakes his head. “Don’t worry mate. We were just waiting for the kettle to boil. You want a cuppa?”

Zayn nods, maybe a bit too eagerly. He’s not feeling too bad actually. The time on the beach sobered him up enough so the hangover is barely there. But still, tea is always good. 

He’s just about the grab some milk from the fridge when he notices Louis’ been grinning at him this whole time. He raises an eyebrow questioningly and then turns to look at Eleanor, hoping she’ll give him more of a clue. But she’s obviously playing the same game, because she just smiles again and says “Last night was fun!”

No one says anything until the kettle signals it’s ready and Louis moves to pour hot water in the three mugs he’d set on the counter. “You and Niall left the club early,” he says casually. 

Zayn rolls his eyes, he should have known it would be about this. “Fuck off, it’s not like that.”

“Yeah?” Louis asks. His tone is teasing, but when he hands Zayn the mug, he gives him a pointed look and Zayn can tell he’s just genuinely interested in whatever did happen.

He sighs, blowing on the tea but putting it back down without taking a sip. He pours in a bit of milk and moves to grab some cereal as well. “His ex showed up at the club. Niall didn’t want to talk to him so we ditched. Got some food and sat on the beach.”

“Sounds a bit romantic, if you ask me,” Louis responds. 

“You’re a twat you know that?” Eleanor giggles at this, as though she agrees, but she still leans over to rub Louis’ shoulder reassuringly. 

Louis is the one that sighs this time, “I’m just saying, Zayn, I can tell you like him.”

“You can’t, because I don’t,” Zayn replies and Louis actually gives him a look he doesn’t think he’s seen before. It reminds him of the look his dad gave him when he was a kid and being difficult. And Zayn knows from experience the only thing that can come after a look like that is a lecture. 

“Zayn think of everything you’ve done for the guy in the 4 days you’ve known him. Took you months to even introduce us to your last boyfriend.” Louis says, and bites his lip because he knows, all the guys do, that Zayn hates talking about his last relationship. He was over it, he was. He just didn’t see the point in revisiting old wounds. He’s still a bit ashamed that he put up with the douche as long at he did. 

“And look how that turned out. And besides, Niall’s not my boyfriend.”

“Because _he_ was a twat. Niall’s different and you know it. You should just go for it, mate.”

“There’s nothing to go for! And he’s just broke up with that douche. He doesn’t want anything right now. I barely even know him.”

“I don’t know Zayn, those sound like some really shit excuses if you ask me.”

“Good thing I’m not asking you then.” Zayn says pointedly and they all know the conversation is over. Eleanor waits a beat before asking whether they should all go to the beach for their last day. She suggests a picnic and Zayn is grateful that they’ve changed topics. Especially since Niall shows up in the kitchen door a few minutes later. Louis and Eleanor make morning small talk for a few moments before excusing themselves to drink their tea out in the sun. 

Louis passes Zayn on the way out, and leans in to his hear. “Just go for it!” he whispers as loudly as possible. 

“Go for what?” Niall asks and Zayn looks at him, knowing he should make something stupid up like scuba diving or whatever. 

But instead he just stares at Niall awkwardly for nearly a full minute before replying “It’s nothing.”

Niall shrugs his answer off and proceeds to make himself 4 slices of toast for breakfast. And Zayn doesn’t pay any attention at all to how low his basketball shorts sit on his hips, or how his ridiculously hot his bed head looks. Or how he bites his lip as he butters his toast, concentrating to getting a perfectly even spread. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the dim glow from the outdoor light, Zayn can just make out the red burn on Niall’s shoulders. It looks painful and before the thought of rubbing cooling gel on it can form fully in his mind he reminds himself that it’s Niall’s fault for not wearing sun-block in the first place. 

They spent nearly the whole day at the beach and even after a long shower Zayn’s pretty sure he still has sand in places he definitely shouldn’t have sand. They played a bit of football and volleyball and Zayn played this game where he avoided Louis and Liam’s pointed looks whenever he gazed a little too long at Niall’s bare chest or excited grin. And now they were back in their favourite place, their little garden, sipping on cold beer and watching the sun go down at an absurdly late hour (okay it was only like nine o’clock, but Zayn had been up since before ten!)

“So you’re all set for tomorrow, Niall?” Danielle asks suddenly.  
Niall nods and Zayn looks between them confused. “What’s tomorrow?” he asks. 

“Oh, Niall and me realised he wasn’t on the same flight as us back home,” Liam says, taking a sip of his coke and continues explaining, “There’s two going back to London tomorrow. So we called up the airline to get it changed so Niall wouldn’t have to see uh...”

“Aiden,” Niall supplies. Zayn notes he isn’t as affected by the mention of his name as he used to be. Hopefully last night’s talk on the beach helped. 

“I think you mean Dickhead,” Louis pipes up, and Zayn wonders when his friends and Niall got so close as to bitch about his ex-boyfriend. 

Niall laughs and Liam takes that as a nod to continue, “Yeah so, you got it changed, right? You’re on our flight?”

“Yup midday flight!” Niall grins and raises a fist in the air as if in victory. There’s a loud “Wooo!” coming from one of the other guys and suddenly Harry’s tackling Niall into a hug on the grass. Niall had apparently gotten used to Harry’s hugs in the last few days while Zayn wasn’t looking because he’s laughing madly and hugging Harry right back before attacking him with tickles. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry manages to attack-hug all the rest of them and finish another couple of beers before falling asleep on the grass. Zayn marvels at his ability to go from looking his ages to about five, but his sisters use to tease him that looked like a baby when he sleeps so he supposes he shouldn’t judge. 

“Alright, I guess we better get this sloth to bed, yeah?” Louis says, sighing dramatically. He finishes off his beer and tosses the bottle into the recycling bucket before moving towards Harry’s sleeping form. Zayn narrows his eyes at this, because Louis’ never had any trouble leaving Harry to sleep in the most awful of places before. 

“I should probably go pack, it’ll take me ages in the morning,” Eleanour muses and gets up herself. Danielle agrees, almost too excitedly for something involving packing and follows her back inside. 

Louis rouses Harry, who looks like an actually baby animal as he rubs his eyes. “Come on, Haz, time for bed.”

“But it’s our last night!” Harry complains. 

“Mate, I think you’ve had enough fun on this trip to last a whole summer,” Liam laughs and gets up from his deck chair as well. “I think I’ll tidy up the kitchen a bit, so we don’t have to do it in the morning.”

Zayn’s now positive he knows what’s going on and he looks to Niall to see if he’s caught on, but Niall’s just gently strumming on his guitar. He’d brought it out a while ago and they’d all had an impromptu sing-a-long. Niall got shy because he let slip that he sometimes wrote his own songs and Harry and Louis started begging him to play one, but he never put the guitar down. 

Niall’s got this little smile on his lips and his eyes are closed and Zayn can barely hear the music, but Niall’s obviously hearing something great in his head because he’s moving his head. Zayn told the guys to back off when they were pestering him before, but he decides now there’s not much he wouldn’t give to hear some of Niall’s songs. 

He gets up and moves to the deck chair Liam’s just left, “I think this is the first time I’ve sat on these things,” he says and realises, even before Niall gives him a weird look, that it sounded ridiculous. 

But Niall doesn’t say anything, just gets up himself and moves towards the chairs. He sits on the one Danielle had had, so it’s actually touching Zayn’s and no, Zayn is definitely not reading into this. “They’re nice.”

They sit in silence for a bit before Zayn leans his head back and groans, “Uhh, can’t believe we have school next week.”

Niall grunted in agreement, “This week went so fast,” he pauses for a bit, but Zayn can tell he wants to say something else. “Thanks man, for... y’know everything.”

Zayn smiles, but shrugs it off, “You didn’t turn out to be crazy or anything so that’s good. Besides I think my friends are kind of obsessed with you now.”

Niall just laughs, but loudly and the sounds flows over Zayn and suddenly the warm air is even warmer. 

“So how long does it take to get to Herts from London?” Zayn asks, if only to keep from actually blushing. 

“’Bout a half hour on the trains. Not too bad. Bit longer on a bus, but that’s cheaper,” he says and when Zayn turns his head back he realises their bodies are both leaning and suddenly a lot closer than he was expecting. 

“That’s pretty doable,” Zayn muses, lifting his gaze so that he’s looking straight into Niall’s eyes. 

“Yeah,” he breathes and his eye drops to Zayn’s lips for a moment before coming back to his eyes.

Zayn’s breath hitches a little, and he doesn’t say anything just watches with wide eyes as Niall licks his bottom lip quickly, almost nervously. 

But then Niall shoots his gaze away, clears his throat loudly and sits back straight in his chair, “But it’s a bit ‘spensive if you did it regular y’know.” His tone is weird, it doesn’t sound like he’s upset, but it’s definitely different to how it’d been a moment ago. 

Zayn stares at him for a moment, but Niall pointedly avoids eye contact, so finally Zayn looks away as well, “That’s true, I suppose,” he mutters.

He doesn’t even know what he was thinking would really happen just now, but he does know that he feels like his hopes have just been stomped on, crushed and thrown in the fucking sea.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, so this is kind of the last chapter, but there will be a epilogue :D Thanks so much for all the feedback!!

Zayn stares at the wooden door for a while before moving at all. Then he checks that his hair is doing okay, just a light brush of his fingers to make sure it was still styled up. He’d possibly used too much hair wax today, but he couldn’t risk it going lopsided. He readjusts the strap of his backpack on his shoulder; it isn’t even heavy, just a couple of essentials for a daytrip out of the city and a tiny amount of hopeful items for an overnight stay. He bounces on his toes for a bit, trying to gear himself up but stops when someone walks past and gives him a weird look. Finally he just raises his hand and knocks on the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_If the boys notice anything weird between Zayn and Niall on the way home, none of them acknowledge it. Zayn isn’t sure how they are ignoring it though, because he’s pretty sure you could cut through the awkwardness with a knife._

_Niall’s looked at him exactly once, and that was when Harry whose seat was next to Zayn’s offered to swap with him. Niall glanced at Zayn, for once his eyes weird and unreadable. “Nah, s’alright mate. Y’can stay there,” he replies and moves to get to his assigned seat before Harry can insist or anything. Harry looks at bit confused and looks at Zayn as though he supposed to have all the answers. Zayn just shrugs and reaches down into his back pack to pull out his ipod. He’ll definitely need it this trip._

_In London, Niall says goodbye at the airport; he has to take a different train to get back to Herts. He gives everyone a big hug but feels stiff and cold against Zayn’s arms. Zayn turns around to look at at the arrivals board so he can try to get a grip on his stupid confused feelings and maybe try not to punch something._

_“You gonna be alright?” he hears Louis ask._

_“Huh?” “I mean about whats-his-name, you’ll probably see him again when you get back home.”_

_“I guess I’ll havta talk to him at some point. But that’s over. I done with him,” Niall replies, sounding confident about it for the first time all week._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_It’s Zayn’s turn to host ‘Boys Night’ and despite him really really not wanting to, the guys didn’t let him get out of it._

_“’M just tired Lou. Next time?” he’d pleaded on the phone._

_“You’re not tired, you’re sulky. And that’s nothing a couple beers and great action film won’t fix.”_

_“Lou, you don’t like action films.”_

_“True, but I’m a fantastic friend that makes sacrifices so we’ll be there at seven, yeah?”_

_“ZAYNOOO!” Harry yells when Zayn finally opens the door. Zayn just stands there for a moment, taking in the sound, before stepping aside and letting them all in. He’s carrying a big pack of beers, and Zayn suspects he’s already helped himself to a couple. Behind him Louis is holding a large stack of DVDs. He waggles his eyebrows at Zayn as he walks past him. Lastly Liam walks in, carrying about three days worth of pizza. Zayn’s first thought is that they don’t need that much because Niall’s not here. But he swallows that thought along with another sip of beer from the bottle he’s holding._

_“I hope you’re ready for the ultimate lads night, even Andy even helped picked out the DVDs, so they’re proper manly,” Louis grins at him, dropping himself down onto the sofa._

_“Hey,” Liam protests, but weakly. He knows that none of them will ever like his friend Andy and he gave up trying ages ago._

_“Tried to get himself invited too,” Harry added, shuddering dramatically._

_“Guys!” Liam whines, dropping down next to Louis on the sofa. Zayn laughs, because Andy really is annoying as shit and Louis is going to hate these movies he can just tell and okay yeah, maybe he did need a boy’s night to help him feel better._

_It’s not till nearly three hours later, when the credits are rolling and 3 whole pizzas are gone, that his three best mates turn to look at him seriously and Zayn realises this whole night has been a farce._

_“Zayn, we need to talk mate,” Louis starts with a rare seriousness._

_“About?” Zayn asks tentatively. He’s not a huge fan of How I Met Your Mother, but he’s seen enough reruns to know what an intervention looks like._

_“You’re being mopey and sad and we think it’s a bit stupid, really,” Harry says, ignoring the glare that Liam sends him._

_“What Harry means, Zayn, is that you’re obvious not, well, happy so we want to help you,” Liam says, smiling softly._

_“I’m fine,” he replies, he sounds defensive and obvious and he’s never been able to get things past these guy before but that doesn’t mean he won’t stop trying._

_“Bullshit,” Louis says angrily, then softer, “You haven’t been fine since Spain. It’s been three weeks since we got back. Did something happen with Niall?”_

_“Nothing happened!”_

_“But you wanted it to?” Liam offers._

_At this Zayn stays quiet because he really doesn’t know. Or he does kind of know but he doesn’t like to think about it, because when he does he feels worse than he does when he’s in a plane._

_But it’s obvious the guys are waiting for him to take the lead, so he hopes maybe he’ll be able to finish this conversation and they can never talk about it ever again. “Look, maybe I did. But Niall didn’t and so that’s that, yeah?”_

_No one says anything expect Harry who can’t help a chuckle bubble out of his lips._

_“What?!” Zayn asks him. He knows this isn’t life or death, or he doesn’t have to laugh at it._

_“You guys are both idiots,” Harry shakes his head._

_“What are you talking about?”_

_“Zayn, we love you man, but you can barely understand your own feelings, you probably shouldn’t try to understand other people’s,” Louis is grinning now as well and Zayn is starting to think this a just a big joke._

_Harry pulls out his phone, taps a couple buttons and scrolls a bit and then, “Maybe you should read this,” he says as he hands his phone to Zayn. It’s a conversation with Niall, and Zayn feels a pang of jealousy, because even though they all have Niall’s number Zayn hasn’t txted him once since they got back to London. Niall’s spelling is bad, but more because he’s lazy rather than an actual inability to use words, like Liam._

**Niall:** Hows Zayn?

 **Harry:** Havent u talked to him?

 **Niall:** Not relly. Dont think he wants t talk t me.

 **Harry:** Youd be surprised. What happened?

 **Niall:** Nearly kissed him but I chicknd out and then avoided him. Probly thinks i hate him or sumthing.

 **Harry:** Do you want to kiss him?

 **Niall:** ...

 **Niall:** yeah. a lot.

 **Harry:** why don’t u just tell him?

 **Niall:** think i ruind it didnt i?

 **Harry:** u r both idiots, how am i friends with u?

_Zayn stares at the screen. The conversation was dated for a couple days ago and his mind is spinning._

_“Uh oh, he’s zoning out guys,” Harry says, taking his phone of Zayn’s hands._

_Louis reaches over and slaps him gently on the cheek. Well, not that gently, “Come on, Zayn. Get it together, we’ve got a plan.”_

_“A plan?” he asks weakly._

_Liam grins. “Yup. It’s all organised!” he says cheerfully and pulls some folded out papers from his back pocket and tosses them on Zayn’s lap._

_“That there is your train ticket for tomorrow, don’t miss it because they don’t go that often on Saturdays and his address.”_

_“His address? Isn’t that a bit... I can’t just show up?!” Zayn asks, reading through the papers._

_“Of course you can!” Louis grins, “It’s unexpected and romantic and it’s makes a statement.”_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Yeah, yeah coming!” Zayn hears and then shuffling inside the room. “Sean I swear if you’ve come to ask for more of my - ” The door flings open and Niall stops abruptly. “Zayn?”

“Hey,” Zayn replies, rocking back and forth on his heels a little.

“What are you- How’d you know where to find me?” Niall asks, although he doesn’t sound too annoyed about it.

Zayn bites his lip, “Uh, Harry. I don’t think you’re actually getting a care package from Danielle and Eleanor, sorry.”

A small smile graces Niall’s lips and he nods, “Okay, yeah, you wanna come in?”

“Um, maybe I should... I’ll say this first and then you can decide if you still want me to come in,” Zayn suggests, because even though those txt messages on Harry’s phone are clear in his head he still wants an easy escape route if he needs it.

“Sure.”

“You know it’s only like half an hour from London to here? And not that expensive either. But, uh, more importantly, I’m not great with new people, yeah? But you, I think I liked you even before I knew you. And I mean really liked, as in I’ve spent the last three weeks asking myself why you didn’t kiss me.” It’s not incredibly articulate, but it gets the point across, Zayn hopes.

Niall swallows, and looks at him pointedly, “I started thinking about how much I wanted to kiss you and I didn’t want you to think I was using you to get over Aidan or I dunno because I was sad. But I wanted to, really. I do want to.” He trails off, and Zayn doesn’t say anything really just takes a moment to take him in, because somehow Niall looks better than he remember. He’s just wearing trackpants and a vest. His shoulder are tan from the summer, but the sunburn is gone. His hair is flat and messy and Zayn wants to touch it. And his blue eyes are looking at him like-

“Zayn, maybe you should come inside.”

Zayn cocks his head in question, because he’s still not quite sure what they’re doing, or going to do or-

Niall sighs, and licks his bottom lip, “Otherwise I’m gonna start making out with you here in the hall and the floor supervisors don’t really like that.”

Zayn looks down and realises that Niall’s holding out a hand. He takes it and let’s Niall pull him inside, “Okay.”

/////

“Mmmm,” Niall sighs against Zayn’s lips. “M’hungry.”

Zayn laughs, moves his hand from Niall’s waist so he can hold his neck, and raises an eyebrow, “You’re always hungry.”

“There’s no proper food here, m’flatmate is gonna do the shopping after work. But we can go out,” Niall replies, ignoring the joke.

Zayn hadn’t even thought about Niall’s flatmate. It’s probably a good thing he was out, since he and Niall are lying on the couch, bodies tangled together and not really open to company.

Niall trails his hand down Zayn’s waist and his fingers reach the edge of his jeans and Zayn’s breath hitches. He buries his head into Nialls shoulder, he’s definitely not hungry for food right now.

Niall laughs, and it’s not until he pulls his head away a little does Zayn realise he actually said that out loud.

“Don’t worry,” Niall smirks, kissing Zayn hard on the mouth and managing to untangle their legs at the same time, “We’ve got heaps of time. But I wanna take you on a date, yeah?”

Zayn looks at him, drinks him in for a moment. His skin is flushed and pink and his hair is literally sticking in all directions now. Niall’s grinning at him, looking genuinely happy and excited. Zayn would like to suggest why they can’t go on a date to Niall’s bedroom, but he can’t say no now. He doesn't want to to say no. "Yeah."


	7. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it. Thanks so much for reading guys :)

Zayn feels his phone buzz in his pocket and puts the book his sister got him for his birthday down on his lap to reach for it. By the time he pulls it out, it buzzes a second time. He’s pretty sure he knows who it is and what it says, but he still smiles when the screen lights up. 

**Niall:** _Tell th train 2 go faster im freezing my butt off !_

 **Niall:** _and i want 2 see ur face ;)_

 _Shud only be another 10 mins_ , Zayn types back quickly. He’s about to pick up his book again when his phone goes off again. 

**Niall:** _Cant wait :(_

Zayn smiles a little wider and thinks for a moment that if he could drive this train faster, he would. _Neither. x_ , he texts back. He shoves his phone back in his pocket and picks up his book. It’s actually quite good and he has a feeling he won’t get much reading done this weekend. Like most weekends. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Niall’s standing under their regular meeting place, under the big clock, staring at his clock and doing nothing else. 

“Y’looking for someone?” Zayn asks, regretting it immediately because oh my god that was the cheesiest thing he’s ever said. 

Niall looks up, grin already stretching his face. Of course he recognised the voice on the first word. 

“Finally!!” He mutters and crashes into Zayn, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist and burying his face in Zayn’s shoulder. His woolly scarve is tickling Zayn’s chin and he reaches his hand up to Niall’s cheek, pushes it up so that their faces are level. Niall lifts his eyes to meet Zayn’s and Zayn can only think that a week is too fucking long. 

“C’mere,” Zayn says, barely making a noise as he leans forward and presses his lips gently to Niall’s. Niall smiles against them and Zayn whines a little, because he’d definitely rather Niall do something else with his mouth. 

But Niall pulls back a tiny bit, barely. “I missed you,” he whispers.

Zayn nods, “Same, idiot. We gonna go home or what?”

 

It works for them. That’s not to say that Zayn wouldn’t rather see Niall every day, but they alternate every weekend between Zayn going to see Niall and Niall going down to see him. And it’s kinda true what they say about Skype being the best thing for long distance relationships. Although Louis says he’s not allowed to call it a long distance relationship because it’s 30 minutes by train and sometimes it takes longer to just get across London. But whatever. It works for them, so Zayn’s happy. 

They don’t end up going straight home, because Niall says he’s hungry and his stomach growls on cue (Zayn is starting to suspect he has it trained) and actually Zayn’s pretty hungry as well. 

They’re in line at the coffeeshop they both like; the coffee’s cheap and the food is good. 

“I have to finish this stupid worksheet before I leave, okay?” Zayn says, “It’s due Monday.” 

“Hmm,” Niall says non-commitally, resting his chin over Zayn’s shoulder so their chests are almost flush. His hair, on the last ends of blonde, is tickling Zayn’s cheek and he’s about to make a joke about it when he feels Niall stiffen. 

“What?!” He asks

Niall pulls away, looks worried and confused. “Aidan.”

“Oh,” Zayn starts, just to say something. “I thought you – you talked to him?” He’s not really sure why Niall’s freaking out so much. After their first weekend, Zayn made Niall promise he’d talk to  
Aidan and get some closure or whatever. He never really followed him up on it. But it’s been like six months and he’s really hoping he hasn’t got it all wrong. 

Niall nods vehemently, but when he speaks it’s all stuttered, “Yeah, I did. And it’s all over. But I’ve not seen him since, and now you’re here. And I don’t want him to say – or like, make you feel -”

“Ni, chill. It’ll be fine,” Zayn interrupts, reaching up so his fingers graze the bottom of Niall’s jaw. “Maybe he won’t even see us.”

Niall glances behind them again, “Nope, he’s coming over here.”

“Okay,” Zayn breathes.

“Niall?” A voice asks. Zayn watches as Niall takes a deep breath and looks up. 

“Hi,” he greets stiffly. 

Zayn turns around to face Aidan as well, steps closer to Niall and wraps an arm around his waist. “Aiden, right? Hey, man, M’Zayn,” he says, trying to be as friendly as possible. 

Aiden stares for a second at the pair of them, standing so close their whole sides are touching, “Oh hi. Have we met? The name sounds kind of familiar?”

Zayn remember vaguely the semi-drunk phone call he answers back on the beach and smiles, “Nope, don’t think so.”

Niall slowly unfreezes, and “Uh yeah, Aiden, this is Zayn, my boyfriend.”

“Cool, I’m, yeah, I’m happy for you Ni,” Aiden smiles widely, and Zayn really doesn’t know him enough to know if it’d forced, but Niall relaxes in his grip and so Zayn does as well. 

After a moment or two of awkward silence, Aiden excuses himself to return to his group of friends and Niall turns his body towards Zayn’s, wraps his arms around his Neck and groans.

“S’fine,” Zayn says reassuring, “One day we’ll run into my ex and I’ll turn into an idiot, just you wait.”

Niall chuckles, “I dunno if I’m gonna be as nice as you were just now,” he replies, and lets his lips ghost across Zayn’s cheek before pressing them pointedly to tip of his cheekbone. 

Zayn laughs, remembers all the times in the last six months Niall’s protective streak has come out, “I don’t really want you to be. I like you feisty,” he smirks.

Niall’s about to say something, but they’re next in line and the promise of food and coffee is more important. He pulls away, wondering aloud whether he should get the muffin or the croissant or both. And Zayn can’t help but keep smiling. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I don’t see why you couldn’t have finished that yesterday,” Niall grumbles, punching Zayn’s ankle gently from the side of the bed he’s curled up on. He’s supposed to be watching something on TV while Zayn is finishing this stupid worksheet, but so far he’s done a lot more complaining than anything else. 

Zayn looks at him, raising an eyebrow, “Someone kind of bullied me into a four hour skype call on Friday, ran out of time.”

Niall shrugs, “s’called time management, look it up.”

Zayn just kicks him gently in the leg and Niall laughs before they fall into a comfortable silence for a moments. 

“Actually been meaning to talk t’ya about something,” Niall says finally, and his tone shifts so much that Zayn actually looks up, worried. 

“What’s up?” he asks, moving back up the bed, next to him.

“Remember those work experience things I applied for, for like after summer?” 

“Yeah, course,” Zayn grins, Niall applied to about ten of them in different cities. 

“So I got into a few of them, bunch of really good ones too,” Niall says slowly. And only then does Zayn get what he’s really saying. Niall’s moving. Zayn tries to remember all the places Niall  
applied to, can think of places in Ireland, Scotland, one in Spain and a bunch around England. Oh God, Niall’s moving. 

“That’s great, Ni, I told you you’d do great. Have you decided?” Zayn says, trying hard not to freak out until he knows for sure. 

“Uh yeah, I got the, I mean, I’m gonna go to London,” Niall says finally and looks up at Zayn with a grin. 

“You’re serious?” Zayn asks, a smiles threatening to split his face as he feels like a weight has fallen off his stomach. 

“Yeah-” Niall starts and can’t even finish before Zayn pushes himself on top of him, pressing his face into the crook of Niall’s neck.

“That’s so great, that’s perfect, Ni,” he mutters into his skin. 

“You think so?” Niall asks, “I was worried you like wouldn’t want me to move-”

“Shut up,” Zayn tells him, shaking his head and kissing him squarely on the lips before pulling away. “This is the best news okay. Of course I want you in London, I’ll get to see you everyday, how is that not -” Zayn pauses because an idea has just dawned on him. Zayn’s not an impulsive guy, but for whatever reason, Niall brings it out in him and it’s never been a bad thing, not with Niall. 

“Z?” Niall asks, giving him a look and a nudge.

“Move in with me?” Zayn asks. 

“What?!” Niall asks, eyes wide.

“Move in with me? You’ll need a place in London and Liam was saying he and Dani are thinking about finding their own place during the summer, but even if he doesn’t we only need one room and I really really want to wake up with you every morning, not just on weekends and-”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s do it,” Niall says, and pushes himself up to reach Zayn and more importantly, Zayn’s lips. He pulls away breathlessly after a moment, and grins, “Fuck, how’m I supposed to wait till after the summer now?”

Zayn grins at him, feeling so light he could fly away if Niall wasn’t holding on to him, hadn’t pushed his knee between Zayn’s legs and his fingers weren’t gripping tightly at the nape of his neck. “Better make the most of these weekends then.”

Niall doesn’t say anything just kisses him again, lips soft but demanding and he still tastes a bit like coffee. Zayn thinks for moment how he’ll have to finish his worksheet later and how they might not end up going to that party Niall’s mate is throwing tonight and how in a few months Zayn will be able to do this anytime he wants not just on Saturday afternoons. Niall pulls up Zayn’s jumper, mouths still connected, and his fingers play with the waistband of Zayn’s pants and Zayn’s doesn’t think very much anymore just runs his fingers through Niall’s hair and kisses him deeper.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. "Aiden" is kind of based on Aiden Grimshaw. Not because I think he's a bad guy in any way, just because when I was writing the first draft for this, that was the first name that popped into my head, and then it wouldn't let me go. 
> 
> 2\. Titles taken from 'Take Care' by Drake ft Rihanna. It was a pretty big inspiration for the fic tbh. 
> 
> 3\. My current story plan has about 6 chapters and an epilogue, but that could change anytime. Will try to update as soon as I can.


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